Kokoro
by botgal
Summary: A new ghost has surfaced, but the problem is, they have no idea what kind it is! Not only that, it seems that Satsuki's spirit is slowly fading away! Can her friends save her, and will they be able to put this ghost to sleep?
1. Appearance of a new ghost!

Satsuki sighed and slumped at her desk as the teacher droned on about English. Who cared if they learned a foreign language or not! It's not like any of them were going to America or France or Denmark or something! _Sometimes I just wish that the teacher would have an accident so he'd go to the hospital and we'd get a fun teacher for a change. Not that I'd want him to die or anything, just enough of an injury that he'll never be able to teach again._ She sighed again and let her head come to rest on the desk. Because of the angle she had when she did that, she saw Amanojaku at the window. He softly tapped his paw against the glass and stared at her.

Satsuki raised an eyebrow at him and he hit his face with the pad of his paw. He breathed heavily on the glass and wrote something in the haze it made on the window. _What the-? Wait! That's S.O.S., backwards!_ "Mr. Sakata, may I use the restroom?" The teacher nodded and she rushed out of the room and shut the door behind her. She rounded the corner and opened a window where Amanojaku then jumped in. "Why are you bugging me during school? What's the emergency?"

"Haven't you guessed already? A ghost has surfaced, I can sense it." Satsuki started at the news. There hadn't been any ghosts in weeks!

"How dangerous is it? Is it something that has to be taken care of right away or can it wait until after school?" The demon in her cat's body sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know yet. It's very powerful, that I can tell, a lot of potential to cause trouble too. There's just something different about it. I can't quite put my paw on it, but this isn't any ghost that I've met before." Satsuki was surprised, she thought that Amanojaku knew all the ghosts in town.

"Well, how is it different? Is it a demon or just a powerful dead human?" It seemed like a logical question to ask, quite a few of the ghosts they had met were just humans who had died. Evil spirits just took over their being, that's what Satsuki and her friends took care of, because some of them were really nice on the inside.

"That's the strange thing. It's not a demon, but not a human either. I don't know what it is." Satsuki frowned and began to ask another question, but she heard someone coming down the hall towards them. "It's okay to leave this until you're done with school, I've gotta fly. Talk to ya' later." Before Satsuki could say anything else, he had already jumped out the window and scurried away on the branch of a nearby tree. She closed the window and started walking. When she got back to class, she sat down and got back into her bored stupor. She saw a flash of black whizz by the window. _Probably on his way to tell Keiichirou. I thought I was the only one who could understand the little retard._

Satsuki looked back up at the blackboard to make it look like she was paying attention. The one thing neither her or Amanojaku knew about was the person sitting on a branch, staring right at the red-headed ghost catcher.


	2. New student, emotionless!

Satsuki gulped down breakfast and then rushed Keiichirou to finish his. Eventually, she just gave up and made him take his breakfast on the run. She was itching to share what Amanojaku had told her the other day. Her father had picked her and Keiichirou up early to take them to their dentist's appointments. Her tooth still ached from the minor cavity he had fixed. Just as she rounded the corner, she tripped over something and went sprawling, her skirt flying up behind her. She heard a click behind her just before she sprawled face-first on the ground.

"Yeah! Let's see you top that one Leo! The old trip-wire bit never lets you down!" Satsuki turned around and glared at the pervert who was Hajime. She smirked back and lifted her skirt up a bit. She was still wearing biker-shorts under her skirt from her past experiences. "Aw man, I thought that she'd forgotten by now!" Satsuki stood up, dusted herself off, and picked up her book-bag off of the ground. As she did that, Hajime picked up the trip-wire he had set up.

"Perv." Satsuki said as she straightened herself up. "Anyways, Amanojaku told me that there's a new ghost in town."

"Well, which ghost? Did he tell you?" Leo pressed on eagerly to find out which ghost they were taking care of next.

"He wasn't so sure himself. We looked over all the ghosts in my mother's book last night and he didn't think it was any of them." Momoko smiled and stared at the sky.

"If we ask him, God will show us the way. He knows all, and if we just believe in him, he will tell us and we shall go to heaven. Except for Leo because he's Jewish, he's going to hell." Leo glared at her from the corner of his eye but said nothing.

"Momoko, just shut up. Anyways, Amanojaku said he'd tell us if anything else came up." Just as Satsuki finished saying that, said demon jumped onto the brick wall they were walking next to and started walking along the top. "Speak of the demon, and he shall appear. Any new news on our mystery ghost?"

"No, I was actually coming here to tell the group the same thing you were, but it looks like you beat me to my job. I'm going to do some more investigating. Have fun at school." With that said, he jumped onto the nearest tree branch and ran off.

"Have fun at school he says, he doesn't have to take a math test does he?" Sastuki crossed her arms and sighed. "Come on, we'd better go."

"Hey Leo, weren't we supposed to be getting a new student today?" Hajime put his hands behind his head in a classic Naruto style as he walked.

"That's right, I wonder who it will be?" Leo adjusted his glasses and hat as he walked.

"Well, I hope it's a girl, a hot one at that. Big boobs, little skirt, yeah, I hope that's gonna be her" Satsuki shook her head at hearing his perverted comments.

Later, at school..

The students sat restlessly in their seats as they whispered excitedly to each other. Questions were flying around such as 'Do you think they'll be a girl or a boy?' and 'How hot do you think they'll be?'. Eventually the teacher walked into the room and held up his hands for silence, obviously that didn't work, so he resorted to yelling. "Everyone! Shut up and sit down!" Once he finished yelling, everyone immediately quieted down, the only sound left being the rustling of papers and the occasional awkward cough. He looked around and cleared his throat. "Now, as I was saying, today we're getting a new student. Now, she's never been here before so I want you all to be nice to her, even if she's a total b*tch. You can come in now!"

The door rattled open and everyone leaned forward to try and get a good look at her. She walked in slow and measured steps and stopped at the teacher's desk to turn and face the class. "Hello, my name is Kokoro, Kokoro Takashi, it's very nice to meet you." She spoke plainly and with no emotion in her voice whatsoever. She was wearing a bright fuchsia micro-mini skirt and a soft-looking pink hoodie with the hood on her head, obscuring her face so the only thing you could see was her emerald green eyes, though they were so blank and soulless that there was no shine in them whatsoever. The class responded with a loud 'Nice to meet you'.

"Very nice to meet you Miss Takashi. Let's see... You can sit right there next to Satsuki Miyanoshita." Hajime snapped out of his daze of staring at Kokoro and whipped his head around to the teacher.

"But I sit next to Satsuki!" he yelled. "Why am I being moved? I was here first! Why don't you just put her in the empty seat in the back?"

"I was planning on moving you soon anyways. You and Satsuki cause too much trouble if you're sitting next to each other. Now, **you** Hajime will take the old, grungy desk in the back of the room and Kokoro will take the seat next to Satsuki." Hajime groaned but didn't complain and grabbed his stuff to move to the back of the room. Kokoro took his seat and placed her backpack under the desk.

"Hi, I'm Satsuki, nice to meet you." Satsuki smiled and held out a hand to Kokoro who merely gave her a sideways glance and lifelessly shook her hand.

"You already know my name, it's nice to meet you Satsuki." She stared straight ahead at the teacher until lunch when she got up and moved next to the window where she sat through the whole lunch-time. She didn't actually eat anything, she just gave her food to anyone who wanted it, which was practically everyone.

"So, what's up with the new girl? It's like she's dead on her feet or something." Satsuki shrugged and nibbled on her orange.

"How should I know, I've sat with her all morning and she says nothing. She hardly even blinks. She just stares off into space, kind of like Hajime when he's being a pervert." Leo nodded and crossed his arms. Hajime steamed as his face turned red.

"Whatever, I need some fresh air." He got up and walked to the nearest window, the one that Kokoro was siting next to. She dropped a pencil on the ground and bent down to retrieve it, just as Hajime opened the window. The breeze lifted up her incredibly short skirt which made her shoot up and put her skirt back down, though she didn't show any embarrassment, like it was just a reflex. "Ooh, yellow panties." She looked at him, but didn't glare, it was just a sort of soulless, blank look. That look gave him the creeps. He slowly shut the window and walked back to his seat. "Well, that was creepy."

"Why, what did she do?"

"She just... stared at me. It was weird, like she was empty inside."

Leo smiled and leaned back "And you say I watch too much sci-fi Hajime." When he said that, Hajime

hit him upside the head and glared at him.

"I'm gonna beat your *ss."

"Whatever, she's kind of creepy, but come on, it's not like she's trying to kill any of us or anything. She's just new." But she didn't notice that, as she said that, Kokoro was watching her with narrowed eyes from under the hood of her jacket.


	3. The Ghost's Strange Appearance!

The whole Miyanoshita household was asleep. Keiichirou was asleep on the top bunk while Satsuki was dreaming on the bottom. Their father was passed out drunk in front of their family's little shrine for Kayako. The whole house was quiet except for Amanojaku, who was turning in his sleep on the roof. He snapped awake and stood at attention. He looked around and, seeing nothing growled with annoyance. _Great, I'm awake again, stupid mortals and their nightmares. Why was I even dreaming I was being chased by a dog? This is what I get for allowing myself to get trapped in the body of a cat. Why couldn't I have gotten something bigger, more ferocious? Maybe a German Shepard, or a bear or something. Then I wouldn't even have to put up with the brats in the first place._ He was interrupted from these thoughts by a strange noise that made his ears twitch slightly.

"What the hell?" he whispered to himself. He jumped down from the roof and slunk towards the origin of the noise. He didn't see a human, animal, or ghost; just an empty kitchen with a few beams of moonlight shining through the window. "I must be imagining things, being mortal for so long has made me paranoid." He was about to leap back onto the roof when he sensed something else. He glanced out the window and narrowed his eyes. "Of course, the kids' room." He slunk out the window and along the windowsill into the night.

Before he reached their room, a figure was already there. The features were unrecognizable because of the dark, but whoever it was walked methodically and silently to where Satsuki was sleeping. They looked down at the sleeping girl and slowly reached a hand to touch her neck with the tip of a finger. When Satsuki mumbled in her sleep, the figure quickly withdrew their hand and stood still while Satsuki turned over and snuggled her head into her pillow. When she was silent once more, the figure placed a finger on her neck again. When she didn't move, they slowly made it so the whole hand was on her neck.

A soft greenish-blue aura came over both the figure and Satsuki. Satsuki grew slightly paler but nothing else besides that, and the change in skin tone was so slight it could hardly be noticed anyways. The figure stood like this for a good five minutes, the aura never wavering. The glow stopped abruptly as whoever or whatever it was whipped around, seeming to sense something. When Amanojaku entered the room through the window, he didn't see anything. He didn't even have the slightest knowledge of what had just occurred in the room. All he saw was Satsuki and Keiichirou asleep. He snuck across the floor and climbed up to the bunk where Keiichirou was sleeping soundly, completely oblivious of what had just happened to his sister.

As Amanojaku surveyed the room from his high vantage point, he heard Keiichirou slowly sit up in bed, though he didn't leave. "Kaya? Why are you here?" Amanojaku was still annoyed by how the boy still referred to him as if he was still the boy's pet cat, but said nothing.

"It's nothing, I'm leaving right now, just go back to bed." He was about to leave when Keiichirou spoke again.

"Kaya, I had a bad dream. Would you please sleep in the bed with me tonight?"

After a few minutes of thought he said, "Fine, but I'm just sleeping at the foot of the bed." The boy smiled and did some of his nonsense babble. The demon-cat ignored him and curled at the edge of the bed. He wasn't staying there because the boy asked, he wanted to make sure he was there if the ghost or whatever it was came back. He tried to keep his eyes open, but after three hours, he felt the call of sleep wear him down. _Damn mortal needs._ That was his last thought before fatigue claimed his mind and dragged him unwillingly into a land of slumber. Outside the window, a pair of eyes watched before fading away into the night.


	4. The Unknown Man!

During school the next day, the children were sitting on the steps and talking. Momoko was going on and on about Jesus while Hajime and Leo were discussing some weird guy thing. Satsuki was listening to about three-quarters of what Momoko was saying, but the purple-haired girl frowned at her. "You're not even listening are you?" Satsuki gave her a slightly confused look.

"What are you talking about? I was listening." Satsuki defended herself, but not with the usual energy she usually had.

"I'm sorry, it looked sort of like you were listening, but without any facial expression that told me you were listening as I explained the word of the Lord."

"Hey, speaking of emotion, did anyone notice anything about that new girl?" Hajime asked. Leo nodded in agreement and adjusted his glasses so they reflected light off the front and hid his eyes behind the glare.

"That is true, yesterday she seemed completely emotionless, but today she seemed a bit happy. Perhaps she has been saved by Jesus." Satsuki sweat-dropped and gave her a slight face, though it wasn't too pronounced.

"Hey guys!" They looked up and saw Keiichirou running towards them. He stopped with a slight skid and took off his backpack. "Hey guys, how're you doing? I bought some juice." Everyone happily took some and started drinking. Satsuki smiled as she sipped at her juice, but not as much as she normally would have. Keiichirou noticed this and gave her a look. "What's wrong, don't you like it?"

"Yeah, it's delicious." Keiichirou nodded, but kept thinking that maybe she didn't mean it. He looked around at the school grounds as he sipped through the straw. When he saw Amanojaku in the tree, he smiled and waved.

"Hey guys, it's Kaya!" Everyone looked up and saw him in the tree. He jumped down from the branches and onto the stairwell.

"Well, it looks like the whole gang is together, how nice. I think I may have found a lead to our mystery spirit. I'm still not too sure about what it is, I'm gonna keep a sharp lookout and tell you when I find anything." He turned as if to leave, but stopped and turned back to Satsuki and Keiichirou. "By the way, you two might want to be careful. I sensed a presence last night in your room, so keep a lookout." With that said, he disappeared off to somewhere.

"There was something in our room last night?" Keiichirou asked as he latched onto his sister.

"Sounds like it, probably just a mouse or a rat or something. He may be in a cat's body, but he's a horrible mouser." Everyone nodded in agreement to Satsuki's statement. "Well, whatever it was, we'll just have to stay vigilant. Maybe we should start watching the bedroom in shifts, that way nothing could ever sneak up on us." She stopped for a moment to think about that and shook her head. "Nah, Keiichirou would probably fall asleep during his shift."

"Excuse me." Leo, hearing the voice, turned and saw none other than Kokoro standing a few feet behind him. "Hello, are you some of Satsuki's friends?"

"Umm, yeah. I'm Leo, that's Momoko, Hajime, and that's Satsuki's brother Keiichirou."

"Hello to you all. Um, Satsuki, since we sit next to each other, I'd like to offer you this as a sign of friendship." She almost shyly held out her hand, and in the center of her palm was a perfect-looking, homemade friendship bracelet.

"Wow! That's so pretty! Thanks!" She took the bracelet and slipped it on her wrist, it fit perfectly. "It's perfect, did you make it yourself?"

Kokoro nodded her head with a barely noticeable smile adorning her face. "Yes, I did. I have some for your friends too if they want one." She reached into her bag and pulled out a small amount of friendship bracelets which each of them took. They all complimented her as they looked at them. The bells chimed to go home and they said their goodbyes to Kokoro who was taking a different route home than they did.

They were talking as they walked down the street that went by the shopping district. They were so busy that they didn't notice a man coming up behind them until he grabbed Satsuki by the wrist and whirled her around. He wasn't that old, maybe in his mid-twenties or so.

"Hey! What the hell! Let go of me!" He immediately let her go and jumped back.

"Oh God! I am so sorry! I thought you were a completely different person. I'm very, very sorry!" He yelled the last sentence back because he was running off.

"That was weird." Keiichirou commented.

"See Keiicirou, always be on your guard." Satsuki lectured to her younger sibling.

In a hospital a mile or two away, the man who had grabbed Satsuki was sitting in a chair next to a withered old man who was asleep in the hospital bed. He looked at the flowers on the old man's bedside, then to the man himself. The man in the bed woke up and turned his head slowly to the man in the chair. "Is something wrong? You seem a bit tense."

"I saw a girl today, I thought it was her. I grabbed the girl's wrist, but it wasn't her. They looked so alike though, almost like they were twins." He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Her friends must have thought I was a pervert or something." The old man in the bed reached out a shaky hand and held the younger man's.

"I kept her safe, blind for far too long. Please, I know you already have so much to do but, please try and find her."


End file.
